There were special German tin coin registering banks (spardose or sparkasse) made with a lithographed KdF Wagen design on the sides that was produced by the German Toy Company of Georg Brandstätter or GEOBRA in the late 1930s. The mechanical bank would keep track of 5 and 10 Reichspfennig coin deposits into the bank (100 Reichspfennig = 1 Reichsmark). A 5 or 10 Reichspfennig coin was placed in the coin slot on top of the bank and the lever pushed forward. There was a window on the bank indicating the amount of coins that had been deposited. When 5 Reichsmarks were accumulated, the banks door blew open automatically and the coins tumbled out. With the coins gathered together, a KdF Wagen Savers stamp could then be purchased and placed in the KdF Sparkarte to eventually buy that KdF Wagen. These GEOBRA KdF era Spardose Banks came in several lithograph designs, boxes and variations within.
Once upon a time in 1876, there was a locksmith named Andreas Brandstätter. Mr. Brandstätter planted a magical seed that would eventually blossom into PLAYMOBIL® by founding an eponymous lock and metal fitting company in Fürth, Germany. His son, Georg Brandstätter, took over the Company in 1908, changed its name to Metallwarenfabrik Georg Brandstätter. And in 1921, moved the headquarters to Zirndorf, Germany, where it remains to the present day. By the 1930s, the Company had again been redefined, manufacturing telephones, cash registers, and various items for toy shops using sheet metal, and going through another name change, to GEOBRA (short for Georg Brandstätter). At the beginning of the 1950s, Horst Brandstätter, the Company's current owner, came on board and started a new era in the Company history. He updated products, searched out new markets and sales opportunities, and focused production on his favorite material, plastic.
